The world of digital delivery of multimedia content to viewers has been rapidly progressing. Typical types of multimedia content include video clips, electronic games, and interactive content. The delivery process for such multimedia content, particularly those transmitted in a form of video, may entail use of a variety of delivery standards, video quality levels, and other parameters. The techniques used in traditional television (TV) broadcast cannot be effectively used in the more modern multi-standard digital TV arena. Currently, only piecemeal solutions are available for efficient and seamless delivery of such multimedia content to the arena of digital TV.
Specifically, content delivery is currently performed using two main approaches: legacy content distribution and over-the-top (OTT) content distribution. Legacy content providers include, for example, cable, satellite, and internet protocol TV (IPTV) providers. Typically, such providers have full control over the entire delivery chain from a central location where the content is originated and transmitted (head-end) through the network to the end user's device (e.g., a set-top box). Therefore, legacy content providers can manage and guarantee efficient content delivery mechanisms and high Quality of Experience (QoE) to the end user.
Over-the-top (OTT) content distribution is the delivery of audio, video, and other types of multimedia content over the Internet typically without any control of the content distribution by the network operators and/or by the content providers. The providers of OTT content are typically third party providers which utilize the network's infrastructure to provide content to their subscribers. As such, OTT content providers are not responsible for controlling redistribution of the content. Examples for OTT content providers are Hulu®, Netflix®, and the like.
In most cases, OTT content providers control only the edges of a content distribution network. These edges are typically HTTP media streaming servers connected in the Internet and the media players installed in user devices. The media is streamed from the media servers toward each of the end user's devices as a transmission control protocol (TCP) based unicast stream. Such streams consume network resources (e.g., bandwidth per each content consumer) through the path between the media streaming server and end user device. This architecture results with a linear growth of network resources where each added consumer increases the consumed network resources. However, as noted above, OTT content providers have no control over the distribution network. Rather, such providers merely utilize the network's infrastructure to deliver content. As such, OTT content providers are not responsible for the overall efficiency of OTT content distribution over the network and, as such, cannot guarantee high QoE to their subscribers.
The popularity of OTT services downgrades the overall performance of the communication networks managed by ISPs, cellular operators, and fix-line operators. Specifically, OTT content delivery significantly increases the bandwidth consumption in such networks. As a result, ISPs cannot ensure high Quality of Service (QoS) to their subscribers, thereby forcing ISPs to upgrade their networks to support the increased demand for bandwidth. In addition, congested networks cause higher packets loss and longer packet delays, thereby downgrading the QoE of OTT streaming services.
Various types of OTT content or streams can be streamed over a network. For example, the type of the streamed content may be live, linear, replicated, or recorded. A live OTT stream is a transmission of a live content (e.g., a sports match, a concert, news, etc.). A linear stream is a broadcasted content, such as a TV show broadcasted over the Internet. In both live and linear OTT streams, all viewers watch the same stream substantially at the same time. In contrast, recorded content such as, e.g., content from a video on demand (VoD) service, may be viewed by different viewers in asynchronous manners, i.e., each user can start watching the recorded content at any time, and the viewing times of users may fully overlap, may partially overlap, or may not overlap at all.
Streamed OTT content can be delivered in two forms: managed and unmanaged. The managed OTT content refers to content owned by a network operator that is delivered by the operator or through one of its partners. As such, the network operator controls the media streaming server and, therefore, can determine if the delivered content can be multicasted, as well as the number of concurrent viewers of the streamed content. The unmanaged OTT content refers to content being delivered transparently over the network. As such, the network operator does not have any information regarding the type of the content being streamed or the number concurrent viewers.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an end-to-end multimedia broadband multicast system 100 for delivery of OTT managed content. A user equipment device (UED) 110 is connected to a cellular network 120 through a unicast communication channel 145 and, optionally, to a broadcast and multicast communication channel 135. The UED 110 typically executes a media player that plays the streamed content.
A content provider (not shown) provides the UED 110 with a portal to access the content via a browser or application installed on UED 110. The content provider streams managed OTT content from a streaming server 150 to the UED 110 through the cellular network 120. The delivery of the OTT managed content can be performed through two sub-networks: a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) network 130, and a packet data network 140.
In cellular networks, a MBMS (also known as eMBMS) is a standardized service which enables broadcast and multicast services of managed OTT content over cellular networks. The MBMS network 130 defines a point-to-multipoint interface for existing and upcoming 3GPP-based cellular networks, such as defined in the 3GPP standard specifications 3GPP TS 22.246, 43.246, 36.440, 25.346, 23.346, and 22.146 . The MBMS is designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast and multicast services, both within a cell as well as within the core network. For broadcast transmissions across multiple cells, the MBMS defines transmission via single-frequency network (SFN) configurations. Target applications include mobile television and radio broadcasting, as well as file delivery and emergency alerts. Delivery of content over the MBMS requires collaboration between the content owner and/or CDN and the cellular network operator.
The MBMS network 130 is further described with respect to FIG. 2. The architecture shown in FIG. 2 is MBMS network 130 defined for long term evolution (LTE)-based cellular networks (also known as an eMBMS). An E-UTRAN 210 is a LTE radio network connection that connects the UED 110 (not shown in FIG. 2) with a cellular network (e.g., cellular network 120 (not shown in FIG. 2)). Such connection is typically provided via the broadcast multicast communication channel 135.
The MBMS network 130 includes a mobility management entity (MME) 220 that is responsible for the control and signaling of the network 130. The E-UTRAN 210 receives content via the broadcast and multicast communication channel 135. Additionally, the E-UTRAN 210 is connected to a MBMS gateway (MBMS-GW) 230, which provides multicast and broadband transmissions. The MBMS-GW 230 is further communicatively connected to a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 240, which is responsible for connecting between the source of the content (not shown) and the MBMS network 130.
Referring back to FIG. 1, the packet data network 140 carries unicast data services. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a typical packet data network 140 includes an E-UTRAN 310 which is an LTE radio network connection that connects the UED 110 with the cellular network. Such connection is typically provided via unicast communication channel 145. The cellular connectivity is facilitated by a MME 320 which provides control and signaling of the packet data network 140, a service gateway (S-GW) 330 that provides packet routing and forwarding, and a packet data network gateway (P-GW) 340. The P-GW 340 is a link between the mobile device and the services that reside in an external packet network.
To summarize the above discussion, in conventional solutions, unicast OTT streams would be delivered through the packet data network 140 while managed OTT streams would be delivered through the MBMS (or eMBMS) network 130.
Existing solutions for multicasting OTT stream content are discussed in the related art. However, such solutions are limited to delivery of managed OTT content over a cellular network. In particular, the existing solutions require collaboration between a content owner and/or its content delivery network (CDN) and the cellular network's operator. The collaboration includes designating which streams will be multicasted, provisioning the multicast and/or broadcast service over the mobile network, provisioning required resources in the MBMS network 130 and UED 110. The provisioning must be performed a-priory before the content is streamed to users. As an example, such provisioning is performed before broadcasting of a live sport event. This further limits the efficiency of multicasting solutions for OTT content cellular communication networks.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a solution that would overcome at least the deficiencies noted above.